We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 19 October 2015 to ask the practice the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services effective?

We found that this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services caring?

We found that this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services responsive?

We found that this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services well-led?

We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Background

Rye Dental Surgery is a mixed dental practice providing a mix of NHS and private treatment and caters for both adults and children. Private treatment was provided through a mixture of fee per item and a dental insurance plan. The practice is situated on the first floor of a converted listed commercial property and meant that the owners were limited to the extent that they could modify the internal arrangements of the rooms available. The practice had two dental treatment rooms and a separate decontamination room for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments and a reception and waiting area.

The practice has 3 dentists and 2 dental nurses who also carry out reception duties and a dedicated receptionist. All of the dental nurses were qualified and registered with the General Dental Council. The practice’s opening hours are 9:00am – 5:30pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and Tuesdays and Fridays 9:00am – 1:00pm

One of the partner dentists is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission comment cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. We collected 28 completed cards and spoke to 4 patients. These provided a positive view of the services the practice provides. All of the patients commented that the quality of care was very good.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 19 October 2015 as part of our planned inspection of all dental practices. The inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a lead inspector who was also a dental specialist adviser.

Our key findings were:

• Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• The practice was visibly clean and infection control procedures were robust and the practice followed published guidance.
• Equipment used to take X-rays and decontaminate dental instruments was maintained in accordance with national guidelines.
• A system was in place for the practice to report and analyse incidents, records demonstrated that there were no significant incidents reported since 2013.
• Clinical staff understood their role in relation to the safeguarding of vulnerable patients.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).
• There was an effective system in place to act on feedback received from patients.

• There were systems in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality of service provided.

• Information from 28 completed CQC comment cards gave us a completely positive picture of a friendly and professional service with patients being treated with dignity and respect.
• The practice received very few complaints, those received since the new owners took over the running of the practice were associated with minor administrative deficiencies only.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• After 12 months of the practice being in transition from one owner to another, the new owners should consider overhauling the existing clinical governance systems and processes to reflect the change of ownership. This is because a number of systems and processes put into place by the previous owner will lapse at the end of 2015.